An Egyptian priest named Moses, who possessed
a portion of the country called the Lower [Egypt] * *
* *, being dissatisfied with the established institutions
there, left it and came to Judæa with a large body of people
who worshipped the Divinity. He declared and taught that
the Egyptians and Africans entertained erroneous sentiments,
in representing the Divinity under the likeness of wild
beasts and cattle of the field; that the Greeks also were in
error in making images of their gods after the human form.
For God [said he] may be this one thing which encompasses
us all, land and sea, which we call heaven, or the universe, or
the nature of things.Judæi mente solâ, unumque numen intelligent, summum illud et eternum, neque mutabile, neque interiturum. Tacitus, Hist. v. c. 5. Who then of any understanding would
venture to form an image of this Deity, resembling anything
with which we are conversant? on the contrary, we ought not
to carve any images, but to set apart some sacred ground and
a shrine worthy of the Deity, and to worship Him without any
similitude.Strabo here attributes to Moses the opinions of the Stoics. He taught that those who made fortunate dreams
were to be permitted to sleep in the temple, where they might
dream both for themselves and others; that those who
practised temperance and justice, and none else, might expect
good, or some gift or sign from the God, from time to time.